I was just wondering if there is anyone that is into penny stocks. Before I bought my sign shop, I was do some day trading and was starting to make quite a bit of money. Since then I have gotten away from watching my portfolio but recently have gotten bit by the bug again.
I really like the penny stocks. When I started, I had $300. to invest. Laugh if you want. But I found one stock and purchased 100 shares for 86 cents. I later bought 300 more. Within a short time it went to 14.00. I had bought another one for about $1.12. It went up to 14.00, I sold, it went back down to 6 or 8.00, I bought, it went back up, I sold.
Unfortunately went March 2000 hit, I lost a lot. Oh well.
[ March 16, 2006, 06:00 PM: Message edited by: Laura Butler ]
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
I made a small fortune doing just that..................................unfortunately............I started with a large one!
Posted by Joey Madden (Member # 1192) on :
I use my 40 1 K which means I don't grow over 40 plants in 1 Kilometer Posted by bruce ward (Member # 1289) on :
i got money in it and i aint too happy about it...there seems to be a "stall" in the system....damn economy
Posted by Louie Pascuzzi (Member # 1373) on :
I usually buy stocks of companies I do work for.
In January a local company ordered a sign announcing the construction of their 100,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plant. I talked to the fellow ordering it and he explained that they needed to have manufacturing in place to get their FDA approval for their new inhalable insulin. Sounded like a good idea to me. So we bought some stock. The company is MannKind Pharmacuetical, (MNKD) , it's been up 55% since then and is still climbing.
One time we made 1,250 trailer numbers for new tractor trailers for Ames Stores when their stocks were low. We figured that if they were buying trailers, they were doing good. We sold that in less than a year and made 50%.
I always ask my customers about their companies and their stocks and it usually pays off.
Posted by DianeBalch (Member # 1301) on :
We have our retirement money in a Vanguard index fund. We started in 1996 and are doing quite well. We follow Bob Brinker's investment newsletter and got out of the market in Jan 2000 missing the 3 year down slide. When he said to get back in, we jumped with both feet and have done quite well. Retirement will commence in 5.5 yrs.
ernie
Posted by Bill Modzel (Member # 22) on :
I have a couple of mutual funds in an IRA which are outpreforming the market big time. I think it was about 14% last year.
The only individual stock I own is Apple Computer which has preformed extremely well too. Posted by Bob Stephens (Member # 858) on :
I've invested my money in a company called Skywatch Signs. The growth over the past five years has been incredible. I happen to know the owner and he's a go getter! He even takes my advice from time to time.
Posted by Laura Butler (Member # 1830) on :
While googling I found www.peterleeds.com and then researched him and was impressed. Somewhere I read that if a tip on a webpage is free it probably isn't any good. So I paid the bucks and got onto the www.peterleeds.com webpage. I then put all the stocks he was telling people to watch onto my yahoo finance page so that I could watch it during the day. I couldn't believe how well they did just that first day.
Posted by jack wills (Member # 521) on :
Green stocks are the wave.. There's a company in silicon valley (used to be nothing but prune trees there) that make solar panels using fused copper and stainless steel, really thin sheeting. These panel are better and much cheaper than older models and produce more energy. Worthy for investment and expecting to IPO soon. I think Joey, is right on with his stocks and stalks as well, as a post investor in same I have HAD great returns.
CrazyJack
Posted by Laura Butler (Member # 1830) on :
I did an IPO once...in one day. Did quite well too. I would have done better but I couldn't get out of class fast enough to call my broker and tell him to sell.
Posted by tim meyer (Member # 1012) on :
Interesting stuff.
Posted by Mike O'Neill (Member # 470) on :
I've never been a day trader, more of a buy & hold person.
Here's a couple that are doing well for me I've owned these for a while.
Sprott Equity SPR001 www.sprott.com Ask me if I like Eric Sprott...
Enermark resources fund Erf.un... pays a nice dividend as well... in cash every month
Here's a penny stock... but I know the story behind this one well... Still one heck of a rollercoaster... Ya gotta have faith!
[ March 17, 2006, 03:12 PM: Message edited by: Mike O'Neill ]
Posted by Blake Koehn (Member # 5984) on :
This is interesting, I have been thinking about penny stocks for a long time. I have been reading Peter Leeds stuff too. Wish I could hear more from people that have made it work.
Just Haven't got my nerve up to jump in yet I guess.
I'm Kind of like Bob, I have invested my money in Sun Signs and it has been treating my well.
Posted by Deri Russell (Member # 119) on :
I don't even pretend to know anything about stocks or the stock market. But we (my husband & I) hired a financial advisor in '86. We will retire in 9 3/4 years. All we do is give so many $ every month and kiss it "bye bye" just like taxes. Pretend you never made it. I also think its a matter of setting goals. Writing them down (very important) and doing what YOU ARE GOOD AT! Let someone else look after what they are good at. I know I make more money that way, and then if the portfolio starts to fall you got somebody to yell at too .
Posted by Laura Butler (Member # 1830) on :
Peter Leeds says to play the market with imginary money for some months before you put any real money into it.
Posted by Carl Wood (Member # 1223) on :
Proud Wal-Mart Shareholder here - although it's been stagnant awhile it bumped over a dollar yesterday !- we do the "Dollar Cost Averaging" method - buy a set amount each period - never sell. . . . . .like Warren Buffet
Posted by KARYN BUSH (Member # 1948) on :
careful of the penny stocks...its gambling...not that i'm not a gambling kinda gal...i've made some good money and i've lost some too.
one of my better DRIPS over the last 10 years has been harley davidson stock.
also believe it or not but ebay held up great during that 2000-05 period when everything in internet and techs tanked.
my portfolio has looked alot better...but then again its looked worse too.
i will continue to invest and buy lottery tickets too...its almost the same.
[ March 18, 2006, 06:34 AM: Message edited by: KARYN BUSH ]
Posted by Pam Eddy (Member # 1858) on :
Some of my customers said they never touch Mutual Funds. Some play around day trading and do alright. Several say they rather invest in things they have more control of, ex. real estate, other businesses....
I couldn't figure out why some refused to buy and hold. Well I read some books, like "Who took my money?" and realize there is more to consider when investing than hand your money over to a "financial advisor". I can't explain it all in this thread, but I decided to invest more in real estate and less in Mutual Funds.
With real estate, I can sell if needed or if things take a turn, I can shift gears into something else. With Mutual Funds, you can't touch it without a penalty until you retire. I want more control I guess. And with real estate, I can write off depreciation and interest on loans and anything I do as improvements. Isn't that what they call ghost income?
Pam
Posted by Suelynn Sedor (Member # 442) on :
I dabble a bit and so far have been very lucky. The first stock I ever bought made 500% in a year. I sold it and bought others and I've averaged about 30% a year for the last 4 years.
I don't really do penny stocks because I don't have time to babysit them, though I do check my stocks every day.
We've been very fortunate to have a good chunk of change in the oil company my hubby works for. It has split twice in 3 years, and is forcasted to split again this summer. My advice is to do a little research into the Oil Sands projects in Northern Alberta. If you don't want to buy canadian companies, there are several American companies up there too. Those stocks have performed very well and the forcast is for them to continue for the next few years.
Its far more exciting than earning 1% at the bank!
Suelynn
Posted by Laura Butler (Member # 1830) on :
I just bought ANSS about 4 months ago and its doing quite well. I bought at 40.42 and it went up to 50. the other day.
Posted by Susan Daniel (Member # 6092) on :
I've dabbled in it a little. I bought into XM Radio when it first started and made some money on that. Luckily I sold all my stock right before it tanked. I've been considering playing around with it again.
Posted by Sonny Franks (Member # 588) on :
I got in just in time to lose half the investment during the bust a few years ago. Disgusted with all the greedy crooks associated with corporations, the SEC, brokerages, etc. we decided to cash in what was left and invest in 2 beach condos.
I'm now expecting hurricanes and flooding from the results of global warming to wipe out the coastline.
[ March 19, 2006, 03:42 AM: Message edited by: Sonny Franks ]
Posted by Michael Clanton (Member # 2419) on :
"...I bought cardboard when it was 3 cents per ton, it is now up to 5 cents per ton- let's see, I bought 3 tons, so that's... aw, you do the math! I got a really good deal- I only have to keep 2 tons of it at my house!" -Steve Martin
That's about my entire knowledge of the whole "stock market" My dad was into the penny stocks and made a little profit. I may have to do some research and start investing.
Posted by Jay Allen (Member # 195) on :
For people who don't have time to follows stocks, mutual funds are the better way to go. Buy funds that have had the same person manage the fund for 5 years or more. Turnover is BAD in the mutual fund biz - and the longer-term fund managers have done it a long time for a reason - they are successful.
Look at the specific fund gorwth averages for 1-3 and 5 years to see the history - and balance your portfolio with a variety of aggressive growth (riskier - but not foolish), growth and income funds (safer - dividend-paying stock funds) and value funds (funds that buy beaten up stocks that will likely rebound in price - blue chips are a good bet here).
The mutual funds I'm in have averaged 21% (before fees) for the last 8 years (I'm in and out of no more than 6 different funds at a time) - so that emans every 5 years, my money doubles. I have a few select stocks - one that I have made over 60% on in the last 3 months (few of those available) and one that I know the company well (up 30% over the last 13 months). That said, Laura is right - if you're interested, study and use pretend money for a while - then jump in.
It is frustrating and fascinating both - but still a good investment. For those who want to try - best to start with an index fund (one that tracks the NYSE, Nasdaq or the S&P 500). These do well over time - and are safer investments. The stock market DOES go up after all - and on average 8-10% per year. That rivals profit margins in many sign businesses.
For those who want something that provides greater returns and yields more stock without buying more, Karen mentioned DRIP's (dividend reinvestment programs) where the dividend the company pays you to "borrow" your money in return for stock is added back in quarterly and you get more stock for no extra money.
I'm also invested in a mREIT (a type of real estate investment trust) called NFI that pays me (at this time) $5.60 per share ($1.40 per share per quarter) on each $30-ish share I have. REIT's MUST pay out 90 to 100% of their profits because of the rules and laws regarding trusts. In other words, that is (it fluctuates based on the stock price) an 18.2% return on your money annually - at today's price. THAT is good money - and I'd never have found it on my own - but was advised by a very knowledgeable investor.
Penny stocks are almost always money-losers - so beware - and invest with that understanding. You can win big - but you always must be prepared to lose money. You can hedge your investing with buying puts and calls (gambles on a stock rising or falling) to protect you if anything good or bad happens - but that's too much work and you need a margin account with a broker to do it. Suelynn has done some investigating and her advice on the 'oil sands' in Canada is speculative - but can really yield some big bucks if the price of oil stays high. Find the right stock as there are some big players in that game right now. Oil prices can come crashing down too - especially if the oil sands start to become a thorn in the side of OPEC - and they'll drop the price of oil just to take away market share from the oil sands market. Prior to these high oil prices, oil sands were just too doggone expensive to get out of the ground and process for their oil - but, lo and behold, now it isn't so expensive when compared to the price of oil!!
Like Carl said, buy and hold is a good strategy with blue chip stocks.
All my wisdom has come by virtue of learning and sharing with other investors. Like Letterheads, the more time you put in, the better the outcome.
(And yes, real estate - specifically in your own home - is a GREAT investment and always yields money in the end for your 'sweat equity'. Just do the right things and don't put a pool in if the neighborhood (or the community) you live in is on the decline - you'll never get the money back out.
Just a little Letterhead Investing Basics 101 . . . good topic!!
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you got somebody to yell at too